Café Aura

I hear: The crazy loud construction workers, drilling into the pavement down the road, messing up my foot-tapping beat.

I see: Small tables, it feels like a place inviting you to come alone, maybe to work or to sulk/celebrate that you’re there alone.

I feel: Very disturbed by the work outside. This was not the plan.

❄️ Happy 1st of December! ❄️

I was one of those kids who secretly liked things like vampires and goth and kinda slightly a little believed in the fortunes on the back of shop-magazines. And Café Aura was the most thrilling place to visit. There you could gaze into glass cabinets full of tarot cards, crystal pendants, velvet bags to keep your wishbones and spells. At the counter you could draw a destiny card from the bowl next to the cash register. It would hold one word, and that word would be the destiny of your day. “Fears” “Angelic” “Dreams” were the types of words you would get, and it was up to you to figure it out. The girl at the counter were happy to help decipher your prophecy too. You’d sneak off to the corner table with your tea, eyeballing the different characters that came and went, with their green cloaks, black eyeliner, blood red nail polish and books with painted on pentagrams. Witches and wizards roamed this coffee shop. We all knew it. These people could tell you about your dead grandma and when they looked towards you where you sat, you felt like they saw into your soul. Don’t make eye contact! It was as close to Diagon Alley as we could ever hope to get.

Now Café Aura is name only on the occult part. It still has a recipe for the most delicious carrot cake which eludes me, but more mysterious than that it won’t get. They don’t make good coffee, they simply dont, where did this cinnamon trend come from? 😣 But you can go here for so much else. They have a great authentic Indian Chai, delicious chicken pie (oh i made a rhyme!) and some top notch cake. They also have powerbanks for all their clients and wifi and a great staff.

I’ll admit it is a shell of its former self, but WHAT A SHELL. It is still one of the cafes in Bergen I visit the most. Maybe it’s for nostalgia, but It’s also for that carrot cake(!)